Geminids
Monday December 15, 2014
Yesterday was truly a glorious summer's day. I gathered Mana, Will and Phil up for some KFC down by Oriental Parade and then took them around various beaches - "I didn't realise Wellington had beaches" and "I've never left town" were some of the exclamations I heard while driving. I was so impressed by the weather that I convinced them to stay up late and accompany me to Owhiro Bay so that we could catch a glimpse of the Geminids Meteor Shower which peaked in intensity last night.
Insufficiently equipped with our hoodies and a picnic blanket, we set up right by the carpark heading to Red Rocks on the stony beach and within minutes of lying down, a magnificent trail of light and smoke streaked across the sky majestically. Over the next hour, we saw several more meteors streaming across the skies, each as exciting as the last, but it was the cold that stopped us from staying too long. We said goodbye to the other crazy people who had joined us and headed home, satisfied with the amazing astronomical display we'd just seen.
Posted by Jeremy at 8:31am on Monday December 15, 2014 :: 0 comments :: 
End of Year Shenanigans
Sunday December 14, 2014
It's that time of the year when the parties go wild and the people start gearing up towards Christmas and the end of the year. Most of us are looking forward to the holidays ahead, even among the stress of Christmas shopping and looming deadlines, and, for the PikPok crew, the competitive nature of this year's Game Jam. Several of the teams have already begun their prototyping ahead of the final week, so it's shaping up to be a tough competition indeed.
Again, despite my efforts to try and play Pokemon or failing that, work on my Game Jam game, this week was quite busy in terms of social events. We watched a horrible Ewoks spin-off movie for 80s Movie Night on Tuesday, then on Wednesday I was out at the Fringe Bar to watch Joe's improv graduation show and then stayed for another show by Wellington Improv Troupe. On Thursday, good old Bryce had come down for Kiwicon so we caught up with him at Crafters, and on Friday... it was karaoke!
Jules is turning 30 this year so she's been having a series of birthday-related events, one of which was an amazing karaoke session last Friday. We started strong, with some good classics like Final Countdown, Bohemian Rhapsody and Keep on Movin', followed by some more contemporary songs like Tay Tay's Shake It Off. But the highlight of the night was the Idina Menzel Let It Go battle between myself and one of Juliann's friends Sarah, who rose to the challenge and duetted the iconic Frozen song with me. We channelled the frozen fractals and icy blasts, crescendoing to the final note, and at the song's triumphant end - the cold never bothered me anyway - we high-fived a job well done as the entire room erupted into wild applause.
The night had not ended there, however. We finished up at KZone and headed to JJ Murphy's to see Vigz's band Zephyr playing some cool 70s and 80s covers. There was the oldest mosh pit I'd ever seen. But the environment was jovial and light-hearted, and we ended up mobbing the dance floor during Summer of 69, so there were plenty of good times to be had.
On Saturday we had the final PikPok badminton session for the year, and then it was off to the bakery for some pies, and then to LBQ with Thomas and Astrid for another MKR BBQ. Despite the weather, Ian and Sandie had set up their equipment and were making some delectable things. I chose the Hefe marinated Lamb Loin on Bruschetta with Goat's Cheese Mousse and Mint Pea Crush, which was pretty good. The goat's cheese mousse was wonderfully smooth and had such a good flavour to compliment the other ingredients. We stayed for an hour and a bit, and then headed off to the Apartment bar for the PikPok Christmas Party.
And boy was it a party.
There was Smash Bros set up on the Wii U and Giant Jenga all ready to go. We had five PikPok-themed cocktails from Oreo, Into the Dead, Flick Kick Football Legends, Robot Unicorn Attack and Rival Stars Basketball. There was much joviality and plenty of shenanigans to go round. At one point in time I was singing I'll Make a Man out of You and also Let it Go in French. At another point in time, I started the Animaniacs Nations of the World song. I was also balancing on top of a tower erected from the Giant Jenga blocks and I was also involuntarily trust falling into the loving hands of my co-workers.
We moved on to Little Penang for some food around 8pm, where I promptly declared how amazing the night was all over the table - it must have been those three shots right before I left. Thankfully Nic, Damon, Mana and James, who were with me, took care of the mess as I was ushered into the bathroom to clean myself up. I felt much better after that, and continued on to the Fork and Brewer very briefly to see Ben off, before being walked home by Polly and Vigz.
I posted a rather dire-sounding message on Facebook making seem I was in quite a bad place, so several people had texted me to ask me if I was okay, and I reassured them everything was fine, that I was just drunk and overwhelmed because it's the first time I've ever done that, and I amended the message on Facebook as soon as I could. But it's humbling to see that I can count on all these awesome friends to be there for me if I ever need them.
For that, I am truly blessed and thankful.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:29am on Sunday December 14, 2014 :: 0 comments ::
But I Just Want to Play Pokemon :(
Sunday December 7, 2014
My copy of Pokemon AlphaSapphire arrived on Friday, but unfortunately my weekend has been so stacked with events that I simply haven't had time to play it. On Saturday I had badminton in the morning, then I met Mana at LBQ to check out the food being served by Dai and Dal, the Laotian girl team from New Zealand's version of My Kitchen Rules. I stopped by the Southern Cross briefly to say hi to Sunni who was having her 30th Birthday, but my back started playing up so I needed to move... and ended up at Mana's for the Singstar Party. Paul texted mid-afternoon for a quick drink at the Sprig and Fern that night so I obliged too. I dragged Mana and Phil along and I met Paul's flatmate Alex there too. It was a pretty crazy Saturday and I was absolutely shattered by the time I got home.
Today has been pretty tiring too. I made it to church for the second Sunday of advent - peace - and I was out to Churton Park for the last family group gathering of the year. By the time I got home, it was 3pm and I passed out on my bed for a three hour nap. So good. I'll get a bit of chance to play Pokemon after I finish blogging...!
Last weekend was pretty crazy too. After badminton, I met Jimmy at the gym (because it was still Bring A Buddy For Free Month) for some more upper body workouts, but the highlight of Saturday was 8-player Smash Bros on the Nintendo Wii U. So awesome. I seemed to have some dominance with the Pink Powerpuff Duo, Kirby and Jigglypuff. The Wii U version feels great and looks gorgeous in 1080p. We had dinner at Little Penang and I hung out at Mana, Will and Phil's for a bit before heading home for the night since I had music at church the next day.
On Monday, I was at Campbell and Linda's for a very satisfying steamboat and Mana, Will and Phil's on Tuesday for the 80s Movie Night - this week's choice was Labyrinth. It feels like I've missed out on a lot of 80s movies, so this is a good opportunity to catch up on some of the films that have been so iconic of that era. The week before we watched Princess Bride - not particularly to Mana's liking but I appreciated the odd sense of humour which would have been far more appropriate for that time period than today.
We found out our Game Jam teams for this year and have started brainstorming ideas. GJ2014 will be in the last week of work, and will conclude what has been a pretty busy year for me at PikPok. Next year will be full of challenges too, and I'm looking forward to completing my first commercial Unity project.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:41am on Sunday December 7, 2014 :: 0 comments ::
Food and Gym
Tuesday November 25, 2014
I've started joining the QA Team at work on their weekly Monday morning weigh-ins. My first week I weighed 70.7kg; the second week I had gained a whole 100g to be 70.8kg. Not bad for the week, considering the amount of food I'd eaten, but possibly also helped by the fact I went to the gym for the first time ever. Those gains, indeed.
Last Monday I was at Loic's house for an extravaganza of French cuisine - a very impressive home-cooked three course meal, complete with Le Rustique camembert to finish the night. C'est delicieux! Bob and Angela were down too, so on Tuesday we met for dinner at Little Penang, followed by dessert at Strawberry Fare where I got the caramel and peanut butter cheesecake. So incredibly indulgent, and far too much to eat, I couldn't bring myself to eat the last few bites of the cheesecake. We were at Duke Carvell's for lunch on Wednesday and El Matador for dinner on Thursday. Continuing on the gluttony train, I got a patisserie from Louis Sergeant shaped like a jandal on Friday, as well as celebrated the one year anniversary of Flick Kick Football Legends with a giant chocolate cake at work.
Saturday was healthy exercise day, with a record sixteen people turning up to badminton in the morning. I had made a deal with Jimmy that if he came to badminton, I'd go to the gym, so sure enough, last Saturday afternoon, I went to Habit on Willis Street with Jimmy as part of their "bring a buddy for free" month. To be honest, it wasn't too bad and I certainly got a good introduction to the weights and machines - Jimmy's pretty awesome like that, and it seems that Hadley's teachings have been well received. However, it feels like the gym really isn't for me and I doubt I will be joining one any time soon. I might go again this weekend (the last weekend to take advantage of this free offer!) but I can't see myself paying that much for a service like that. That being said, if my metabolism slows down and I start packing on the kilograms, it might be a necessity in the future.
I went and saw My Neighbor Totoro on Sunday (neko basu!) and caught up with Raewyn and Andrew at Deluxe afterwards, but otherwise it was a pretty relaxed Sunday with some great sunny weather, even if it was a bit too windy. We were at Pravda Cafe last night for Fine Dining and Kaffee Eis afterwards because the meal was so lacklustre. It looks like my social calendar is slowly filling up for the rest of the year. It's gonna be great.
Posted by Jeremy at 8:27am on Tuesday November 25, 2014 :: 0 comments ::
Almost Summer
Thursday November 13, 2014
We had a few brilliant days of sunshine last week, so the parties were on and the barbeques were fired up. I was at Vincent's on Friday for a crazy animal-themed party, Hadley and Jimmy's on Saturday for the 80s Party III, and Thomas and Astrid's on Sunday for a barbeque and really also to play with the cats. Saturday was also the Guy Fawkes fireworks down by the waterfront - we had a pretty good view from Joe's rooftop right by New World Chaffers. It was a pretty busy weekend indeed.
There's been a spate of new food and drink establishments popping up too. I was at the Bresolin on Tuesday for a quick drink (nice place down by the motorway on Willis St, but the service had a few teething problems) and Burger Liquor on Wednesday (burger joint that took over Crazy Horse, pretty good feed), but have also heard about Five Boroughs in Mt Victoria and the Hideaway on Plimmer Steps. Would be keen to try those at some point, and if their standard meets expectation, maybe a food blog post is in order too.
I went to a new physiotherapist today (same clinic, though) who took a look at my back and told me my spine was "straighter" than normal, which meant a lot of the pressure fell at the back of my pelvis instead of more centrally. This could be causing all my problems with the leg and back pain I've been having. Some damn complex muscular and nerve system shenaningans. In any case, I opted to try dry needling, which is similar to acupuncture in that needles are inserted into trigger points to contract and release muscles, except the needles are flicked instead of having an electric current passed through them. It seems to alleviated some pain in the back and given me some mobility, but time will tell if the treatment and the assigned exercises will actually solve my problems. I've also come away with a large line of tape stretching around my back to the front.
Fun times.
The end of year is nearing and I'm looking forward to the time off, especially the trip to Melbourne over New Years. There will also be the drive up to Auckland, which may or may not involve skydiving. We shall see.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:53am on Thursday November 13, 2014 :: 0 comments ::